My Western Europe Travel Experience Day 2 – A Rainy Chilly Day

I rephrased the title of the series from Central Europe to Western Europe this time. It is quite confusing here. There are people referring UK, France, Netherland and Italy as central Europe as well as Western Europe. Some might referring UK as Northern Europe while Italy as Southern Europe. If Europe is to be parted into 2, then they shall be geographically located in the west of Europe. Otherwise they shall be part of the central Europe if we split Europe into West, Central and East. I changed it back to Western Europe since more people prefer them to be called this way. So this shall be my Western Europe Experience Day 2, a rainy and chilly day.

We spent our 1st night in London sleeping in tiny bunk beds of 6-person-dorm. Jet lag from our 13 hours flight from KL to London the day before had nearly killed my sleep. Partly due to the chilly weather outside (or maybe I was too exciting 🙂 ), I did not sleep well and woke up early at 5AM! The morning sun was already up as high as what we normally have at 7AM here in Malaysia. 🙂 Sadly, the sun was not strong and it was drizzling out there.

At around 6AM, the rain stopped. Jean woke up and we decided to take a walk out. Outside temperature was freezing cold at below 6°C. Though May is supposed to be late Spring with average temperature of 13°C in London, unluckily, the temperature dropped drastically during the 4 days we had in London due to unknown reasons (I would believe it was partly due to the excessive ash cloud from Iceland the week before that)! 🙁

It was Sunday so the traffic is very much easier. We walked around the Russel Square, crossing the roads, followed their pedestrian crossing sign, watching people on the streets, in the drizzly morning.

We went back to our hostel to join Chong, Keong and Bobo for our first breakfast in London. Breakfast starts from 7:30AM to 9:30AM. It is served in the dining room which is fairly big but still cramp for all guests to fit in. While waiting for tables, we sit in the living area where there are sofas, TV, table soccer and study tables and chairs.

Basic breakfast with bread, cereal, milk, jams and coffee or tea, was provided by the hostel in buffet style. Oh! The milk was still as good as what I had 13 years ago… I still love it!

What did we do next in our first morning in London? I booked our Eurostar tickets to Paris online through Rail Europe for £55 each without tickets (Check out: Top 5 tips to book cheap transportation in Europe). So we decided to collect our tickets from the nearby Kings Cross train station before anything else.

Eurostar ticketing office is located within the St. Pancras station which is annexed to Kings Cross train station.

Along the way to Kings Cross, we were counting our steps and time between Smart Russel Hostel and St. Pancras station. They are like 15 minutes away from each other. Europe Travel Tips: Always check or the best try the distance and time you need to catch your next train or flight before the actual date. So you could make sure you will not be late for your next transportation. Check also the check-in time you need before the actual departure!

The next thing we do was to decide whether we need Day Ticket or to walk. Since it was a rainy day (I couldn’t shoot much outdoor photos as what I expected), we bought Daily Travel Card for £5.60. Remember we bought £4 for a single trip from Liverpool Street to Russel Square yesterday? It’s a great saving on local transport (underground and buses) if you plan to travel frequently around and within London city.

We took London Underground train following Piccadilly Line back to Russel Square and then walked over to our first travel destination in London, The British Museum < Check out the Travel photos of British Museum here.

Next up was shopping time! We strolled down the street from the museum to the most popular shopping street of London, The Oxford Street. We actually detoured our original itinerary on our first day in London. Because it was raining, we went shopping instead of sightseeing in London! Before that, we bought some sandwiches and breads and juice from Tesco Express minimarket opposite Russel Square underground station. It was our first lunch in London that cost only £2. 🙂

The first souvenir stall we spotted on the street. I always love UK souvenirs for their colourful design and full varieties. Fridge magnets are selling for £1.50 each and T-shirts are £3.99 each. Fancy anything from the stall?

Though it was rainy Sunday, Oxford Street was still packed with Londoners and travelers. All major popular brand names for young people could also be found along Oxford Street. For exclusive celebrity designer fashion, you should go Knightsbridge instead.

Oxford Street including New Oxford Street, is stretching from Marble Arch (For Malaysian, you can find Malaysian High Comm here) to Oxford Circus. My Nikon D60 with Tamron SP10-24mm Ultra Wide Angle lense were working very hard here! 🙂

Many departmental stores such as Selfridge, Debenhams, House of Fraser, John Lewis, BHS and Mark & Spencers are fighting for higher market share here.

There were quite some bargains found there. I bought a windcheater for only £8 (I didn’t expect I needed it there before) . Jean and Bobo bought a couple of T-shirt and jumpers for their children all for less than £6 each.

At around 4PM, it finally stopped drizzling out there. We finally stopped shopping anymore…. in Oxford Street. We moved on to another shopping street, Brompton Road by taking Underground at Oxford Circus Station. If you’ve noticed by now, many of the London underground stations are tucked in to blend well with other buildings side by side.

You can also choose to hop on to this double decking touring bus to tour around London city. But be careful. Though they are also in red as the rest of the London bus, daily travel card is not acceptable to hop on. 🙂

We took the Victoria then Piccadilly line to arrive at Knightsbridge. When people talk about Knightsbridge, they will certainly mention about the landmark, The Harrods, the luxury Departmental Store that attracts many royal families as well as celebrities all over the world. > Check out The Harrods Food Hall photos.

Shopaholics need 1 whole day to shop all its 330 departments in the Harrods. We spent only 1 hour inside its Food Hall as we were rushing for our next travel attraction in London, the Buckingham Palace… coming up next! Subscribe to my Feeds vis RSS or Email for free updates on my Europe travelogue and more Europe travel photos and travel tips! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog

Check out all photos taken in London here:

About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.